(ominous music)
- [narrator] a teenage girl run over in broad daylight.
- She keeps saying over and over,
"I can't feel my legs."
- I'm just a girl just walking to a basketball game.
I didn't deserve this.
- [narrator] can detectives capture the hit-and-run criminal
Before they strike again?
- Why didn't you stop?
- [narrator] but first.
- [caller] get an ambulance here, now!
- [narrator] a frantic search for a killer
After a young man is gunned down.
- Does lying help you?
- [narrator] investigators searching for answers.
- [daniel] you better start telling me
What happened.
- [narrator] in the interrogation room.
- [daniel] otherwise, you're gonna have this
Come down and hit you in the head like a ton of bricks.
(suspenseful music)
- [narrator] every suspect accused of a crime
Has the right to remain silent.
Many agree to be interrogated anyway,
But they can stop the interview at any moment,
Making it a race against time.
Justice hangs in the balance.
(ominous music)
(siren blaring) (eerie music)
- The corner store is a tobacco product store
Situated near the end of a strip mall.
When I arrived, I observed officers treating the victim
And it was clear that he had been shot
Multiple times in the chest.
- He appeared to be a young male, early 20s.
He was in the back of the store.
There was a small parking lot,
Kind of a little bit of a darker area.
Everything appeared that it had happened
Right at that location.
There weren't any blood marks
Or blood splatter anywhere else.
- There were no shell casings recovered at the scene,
Which told us that it was likely
That the weapon used was a revolver.
- The victim had no weapons that we could see.
So, to us, it kinda looks like
This might have been a one-sided type thing.
- The victim was eventually identified
By his identification being found in his wallet
As joseph edward ross.
(solemn music) (siren blaring)
He was eventually transported to the hospital,
Where he passed.
- Joseph ross was my first born.
He had just turned 26.
He was a big-hearted, loving young man.
He would give the shirt off his back in a snowstorm
To somebody else that needed it.
- He was just always, wanted to give to others
And make sure that other people were okay.
- He was a very talented musician, very, very talented.
- He always had a guitar, he always had a harmonica.
He played around on the drums
So he was very multi-talented.
- That was his gift to everyone, really, was music.
- He was making plans for his future.
He was wanting to go to school, go to college.
And he wanted to go into journalism
'cause he was a good writer.
- He was someone who made every day count, for sure.
(suspenseful music)
- Our crime scene comes, takes photographs,
Really documents what's going on.
Because there is a lot of activity,
Crowds start developing.
So we start going up to those crowds.
"hey, did you see what happened?
Did you hear what happened?"
- A witness at the scene
Observed the victim walking through the parking lot,
Talking on a phone and arguing.
And shortly thereafter,
They observed a red dodge pickup truck
Pull into the parking lot.
- The next procedure is we're gonna look around
For surveillance cameras.
We did see that there was a camera
Inside the corner store.
We were able to see our victim come into the store,
Purchase a couple of items, and walk out.
- But the corner store did not have cameras
That were functioning on the outside of the store itself.
At that point in the investigation, it's a whodunit.
We have a vehicle description,
A description of one of the occupants of the vehicle,
But no clear indications as to who they are.
We just didn't know.
(ominous music)
- Jonathan ross said nicholas nehring was 23 years old,
A small-time drug dealer who was out of work.
- He's the only friend that my kids have ever brought home
That made me uncomfortable in my own home.
- Certainly with it being all the links
With the red dodge pickup truck,
The history between the two of them,
The subject being armed on a regular basis,
That obviously then, at that point,
Propelled nicholas nehring to being the suspect
That we were looking for.
(ominous music)
- The vehicle started pulling down
And we had officers basically just kind of surround it.
(siren blaring)
- We identified nicholas nehring
As the passenger in the vehicle,
As well as the driver, jerryl lovelace,
Who was 25 years old.
They were both taken down and arrested.
Inside the truck, we found a number of long guns,
Ar-15s, and 14 shotguns.
We found a revolver on mr. Nehring.
- But what was also striking
Was nehring wasn't overly nervous,
Just like an everyday, no big deal type thing.
(suspenseful music)
Looking at the totality of everything,
We knew that nehring was the main suspect.
- We felt that mr. Lovelace
Was likely to be the driver of the vehicle.
So if we could flip mr. Lovelace
And get him to tell us something that implicated mr. Nehring,
Then our chance of success were greatly increased.
- Having a confession would solidify the case,
And can paint the entire picture to the jury.
But you may have just one shot at the suspect.
So he's gotta choose one or the other,
Either be on our team or his team,
With our help or against our help.
This is the point where, in his head,
He's negotiating that
And he's working out what's his best interest.
(suspenseful music)
What I'm doing is I'm establishing an a and a b,
Eliminating any other options.
It helps with establishing control and dominance
In the interview.
(indistinct conversation)
- His eyes were down, he was scared.
He looked defeated, like he had to give us something.
- He says several times very firmly "I didn't do it,
I didn't do it."
Which leaves open that he knows who did.
So it's being persistent with it
And continue with the question that he's not answering.
(timer ticking) (tense music)
(ominous music)
- Before we entered the room to interview nick,
He was sleeping.
- This referred to as the perp nap,
Someone who's typically guilty
Will actually fall asleep in the interrogation room
Because they're so exhausted
From the stress associated with waiting to be arrested.
(eerie music)
He's very engaged right now.
He's up at the table, he's close in.
He's in a very strong position.
And at first I'm back,
So I move in to show that I also have a very firm position
In my assertion that his vehicle's there.
If it seems as though I'm not sure,
He'll take that and he'll run with it
And that allows him to have an escape.
When he's feeling threatened, he starts to back up
And the hand that he's able to actually goes into his pocket.
So it's another defense mechanism that he's using,
Where he's hiding and concealing what actually happened.
At that point, I didn't have video of the shooting,
But he's nodding 'cause now he believes it.
So with him I felt comfortable throwing out the bluff
In such a way,
Because I didn't think he was gonna call me on it
And I thought he would accept it.
- He's admitted to pulling the trigger.
I am now in the game.
(suspenseful music)
(ominous music)
- We know we are now in the room with the murderer.
Now we have to attack his explanation
As to why he felt justified in it.
If you're gonna bluff,
It's gotta be very calculated and careful.
But he grasped onto the concept that there was videotape
And he was paranoid about that
And accepted that I had seen that video footage.
(indistinct conversation)
- His true face comes out and it comes out in grand fashion.
- We were speechless.
He just didn't care.
It was just, it was pure evil.
- From the very beginning of this investigation,
It was a whodunit.
And, within hours, we had the suspect in custody,
We had a confession, we had him charged,
And he was on his way to jail.
(eerie music)
Nick nehring was sentenced to life in prison.
That confession showed that he planned to kill joseph
From the very beginning
And it showed his mindset that he did not care.
- The decision was made not to charge mr. Lovelace
With accessory to the murder,
Because we actually believed his story
That he wasn't prepared for what had happened.
And he was much more valuable as a witness,
He served a purpose in putting mr. Nehring away.
- There's no chance of nick getting out, ever.
He'll die in prison.
And that's probably best
Because I do believe that he would kill again,
If he had the chance.
- I think it was important for all of us.
We're his family, we need justice.
- It breaks my heart.
How could you destroy somebody
That meant so much to so many people?
- It alters your reality, it's totally shattering.
- It just destroyed our family.
- Joe had so much to offer.
He was robbed of his life.
And I know that he could have done so much more.
He was just one of a kind.
(soft music)
(ominous music)
- I show up home from work that evening
And I park my truck in the driveway.
My son come out of the house and he's like,
"something happened to natalia at the school.
She fell, she hit her head.
She's crying."
I drove over there.
When I got there,
My daughter is crying loud and a lot of pain.
She couldn't move her legs, neither one.
She keeps saying over and over
"I can't feel my legs."
I keep asking to her what happened,
She look at me like she was like lost.
And she's like, "I don't know what happened."
- I'm like, "how did I get here?"
Like, "what's going on?"
I was like, I don't remember anything, everything's blank.
- The principal started telling me
That she was walking towards the school crying
And one of the kids saw her stumbling side by side.
So they went there and help her out.
They open the door for her to come in.
- And my friend told me, "you look like a zombie.
You know, you were just like slow walking.
Like this is the type of stuff like you see in movies.
You don't remember?"
I'm like, "yeah, I don't remember, what's going on?"
I was like, "what is this?"
- That was like a nightmare for us.
Probably the scariest thing I ever live.
(suspenseful music)
I was getting nervous.
She didn't know what time it was,
She didn't know what date it was.
It's hard to remember that.
Every time I talk I hurt.
(ominous music)
- Her family said she lived in that neighborhood close by,
Less than a block and a half away.
- We asked what happened,
But she was in such distraught
That we couldn't get much answers out of her.
- I was like direct right away
And I'm like, "I think she got hit."
Her clothes was dirty,
Kind of a little bit greenish and mud.
She has like a dry leaf in her hair
And she can't move her legs.
The officer look at me like, "that's what we think too."
(siren wailing)
- The medics arrived there,
Then she was transported to the hospital after that.
- In the ambulance I was scared.
I thought like, what if I can't move my legs anymore?
What if I'm gonna be stuck in a wheelchair
My entire life?
- We just praying god that, you know,
She can be able to walk again.
(ominous music)
- It was very clear that this girl was on the sidewalk
And that a car left the roadway and struck her.
- We had tire track marks, impressions.
A motor vehicle had went up and over the curb,
Straddled the sidewalk,
And then eventually came back down
On the travel portion of the road.
- What we didn't know is why that car left the road.
We thought that the driver
Could have been just very intoxicated
And lost control of their car.
It's quite common
For people to leave the scene of an accident,
Even if someone's hurt.
- We started a canvass of the neighborhood,
Essentially looking for any witnesses.
But, at that time of day, there was nobody at home.
(solemn music)
(tense music)
- I'm just a girl just walking to a basketball game
And I didn't deserve this.
- She asked, "hey, come forward.
We wanna know who did it and why they did it."
- I felt like I got punched in the stomach at that point.
I couldn't believe that this had happened anywhere,
Much less in our community.
We wanted to let the family know
That our police department would do whatever we could
To help bring the person that had hurt their daughter
To justice.
- I think about my own kids being in that situation
And it's like, you know what?
I'm gonna fight for justice for you,
I'm gonna do everything I possibly can.
(suspenseful music)
- By the third day, it started getting a bit better.
I was able to like, sit up straight.
- [cesar] they did all the tests they can do to her body
To look any broken bones, any internal bleeding.
They couldn't find nothing.
- It's just some bruising and swelling,
But after that I would be okay.
- She is blessed to be alive.
I told her "you have an angel to watch you."
(soft music)
(ominous music)
- It was a bit still foggy,
But I was slowly starting to get a little bit new memories.
I remember just like walking and I see a black jeep
And I saw like just a woman.
And she was wearing a black coat with like some like fur
On the hood.
From there,
I just remember just like getting conscious at the school
At indian hills.
(ominous music)
- We were just trying to get the public's involvement.
It was probably our biggest hope to gain more information.
(suspenseful music)
- We learned nicole poole was 42 years old.
She lived in the des moines metro area.
- In the still photo
She was at the front door knocking on the door,
But we didn't have any video after that.
- According to talking to her ex-husband,
She was there to see her daughter.
(suspenseful music)
- The time of her being in the area was right.
We had to find this nicky poole
And we needed to get her in for an interview.
- We had found out several days later
That she was in the polk county jail.
- Nicky poole had gone to a convenience store
In west des moines.
She was clearly either under the influence
Or having some sort of mental health episode at the time.
- [officer] go stand outside.
- She was in there throwing racial epithets
Out against the person that worked in the store.
- She also threw an object at the cashier there.
- She was ultimately arrested for trespassing, harassment.
(ominous music)
Natalia thought the vehicle that ran over her
Was a dark-colored jeep
And she thought it was a female driving the vehicle.
- I authored a search warrant to search that vehicle.
It looked like there was a shoe print mark
On the passenger side door.
- And the dirt that was on the car,
It looked like impressions from clothing,
Like that pattern had been pressed
Into the side of the car.
That really started to bring nicole into the picture
As the suspect.
(eerie music)
(tense music)
- I figured nicole poole
Would not answer any of our questions.
I figured she'd just sit there
And say, no, I want an attorney.
So we went in there with a more relaxed approach.
(suspenseful music)
- She seemed nervous, she seemed very timid
And just quiet.
She kept her legs crossed the whole time,
So kind of semi standoffish.
We were, you know,
Afraid that she would lock up on us.
- I figured she wasn't going to talk with me at all.
(ominous music)
(suspenseful music)
I was just trying to keep it, you know, simple and basic.
I didn't wanna push her too much.
Just kind of soft approach with her.
I wanted to try to make her feel comfortable
And that she could tell me anything at that time.
- The detective needs to create a level of comfort
And help the person to understand
That they are someone that's not gonna get angry,
Or judge them.
I was just in awe.
I kind of had to pause there for a second
And try to get my composure.
- Oh my gosh, she just admitted she ran somebody over.
- I kind of just want to try to get to the bottom
Of why did she do this?
Why did she say this?
- But I'm thinking, okay, the train's rolling,
Keep on going with this.
But just keep it kind of low, you know, don't get excited.
- It's very important to take your own emotions out of it.
Someone's not going to confess to you
If they feel like you're going to have a reaction,
You're going to be disgusted with what they say.
When you show you care
And you listen to individuals that you're interviewing,
They're more apt to open up and talk to you
Because you know what,
Now they have somebody that's gonna listen to 'em.
- She keeps throwing out mexican, taking our jobs,
Taking our homes.
At that point, I knew it was way more serious
Than what I initially thought it was.
It was a hate crime.
- When we walked out of the jail,
We were both kind of in shock.
- Being a minority, I promise you, it hits home.
- [joe] both of us were kind of
Trying to dig for our cell phones,
Call the county attorney,
To figure out on the exact charge
We were gonna pursue at that time.
- I'm like, wow,
This is way bigger than I thought it was gonna get.
(suspenseful music)
- [newsreader] it was another sentencing date today
For nicole poole,
The des moines woman who tried to run over two children
On purpose,
Simply because they are minorities.
(birds chirping)
- It was kind of a relief for us.
Oh, you know, great, they did it, they found who did it.
But then when they give the notice why she did it,
(soft music)
That was heartbreaking.
- I was just in like a state of shock.
I didn't know whether to cry or to scream
Or to just run away.
I knew there was racism in the world,
But I never knew that it would happen to me,
Like, two blocks away from my house.
- My wife and I,
We had the idea to leave the country, forever,
But no one is gonna push me away.
We stayed to prove our kids that they belong here.
We can't live in fear
And we can't let that destroy my family.
- She just leaves the road.
There's nothing to indicate
That there was any kind of crash.
She just up over the curb, strikes one of the children,
Back onto the street, and just keeps going.
The hate-filled motivation seems so apparent to all of us.
When we go to charge these crimes,
I think law enforcement in the neighborhoods
Wanna send a very strong message
That if you commit a crime that's motivated like this,
We are gonna hit you with the most serious charge we can.
- Our investigators
Heard from the des moines police department,
That they were investigating a case
Where a car had gone up onto the sidewalk
And a child had been hit by a car.
- And she was the person that did that.
We have a single incident,
But it just expanded and blossomed into this huge,
You know, pattern of activity
That she was doing on the whole west side of des moines.
- I really fear
That if she had not been stopped at that point,
That there may have been other victims in other ways.
It's really disheartening
To see where you can take that rage
And turn that toward children
Who've never done anything to you,
Who are just walking down the sidewalk
As all of our community's kids do every day.
This behavior is not acceptable anywhere,
Especially in clive.
(eerie music)
- Those charges carry a 25-year sentence.
Question of insanity was certainly
Raised by her attorney,
But she was examined for competency
And she understood what she did.
And she knew right from wrong, and she pled guilty.
- And I really credit our investigators
For conducting their interview in a way
That made our suspect comfortable enough
Talking to them.
Because, minus that admission,
We would not have ever been able to prove
That this was an intentional act.
- Well, it's always good to have a taped confession.
It really put things all together.
(soft piano music)
- We are so fortunate that that these kids have recovered
And are gonna be able to live normal lives.
It was a matter of inches
Between serious injury and death.
We're fortunate that luck was on the side of these two kids.
- I really think that god was watching over
Those two children,
Because it's miraculous that they didn't get killed.
(tense music)
- Oh, I just feel sorry for her.
I don't feel any hate,
Because hate is what almost took my daughter's life away
And I don't wanna feel the same thing.
- At first, I did have anger towards her
But I found out that holding something against her
Wasn't gonna do any good for me.
And, if anything,
I got to the realization that I have to forgive her
In order to move on,
To move on and just go and live my life.